BAPTISM IN GWANG JU

Hey Mother and Family!

 

Hey! Sounds like everyone is doing well. Happy Thanksgiving! Someone in our ward bought us a Turkey, so we will have our own little Thanksgiving in Korea! I'm glad that article helped with your talk, and I am sure that you and dad's talks were great! Haha, driving on ponds sounds like quite the fun. I guess there are some positives to having really really cold weather. Here it is not really cold by degree temperature (maybe 30s-40s) however it feels so cold. We can't decide if we are just wimps or if it was because of the really hot summer that we just had...well either way winter is on its way and we are excited to do the Lord's work!

 

This week was so wonderful!

On Saturday we had the baptismal service and it was so amazing! Their Seoul-serving missionary daughter came back and their entire family was there. Although their son is not a member, the entire family was so HAPPY. It was so amazing. The father was really worried about giving a testimony because he wasn't confident in himself and so he often made sure that there would be no testimony. We told him there wouldn't be. Well, the ward doesn't have the people give their testimonies, but they do have them give a little introduction of who they are. It was amazing, because when he did, he bore his testimony! It was so wonderful. They had the missionary daughter bear her testimony, and then one of their fellowshippers bear his testimony. It was so wonderful! At the baptsimal service we got the son's phone number and are excited to work with him as he realizes the change that has happened in his family. We also received a member referral right after the baptism for someone who wants to go to church! It was a wonderful day!

They were confirmed yesterday and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and he was sustained to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. The family was so happy, and I was so excited to be able to be a part of it!

 

We had tons of meetings with new investigators this week. We have SO many that have a lot of potential, I am so excited to continue teaching them. One particular miracle that we saw this week:

      Last transfer Elder Evans and I went out (when it was thunderstorming that one day) and we looked for a potential investigator's home. Well, we couldn't find it, but we were able to call the investigator. The investigator requested that we let him talk to a Korean so we went to a nearby restaurant and had the owner talk to him. Then the owner, during business hours, took time to drive us to where we needed to go. To say thank you, Elder Evans and I returned the next day and ate at their restaurant. They had a church they attended and didn't seem too interested so we left it at that. This past week Elder Tolman and I returned. We ate with them and talked about them for awhile. When we shared a message about God they loved it. We gave them a Book of Mormon and he seemed really sincere when he said that he would read it. He took out a highlighter and highlighted the passages that we told him to read. We also told him that the center of our church was the family. When he heard that (his wife had gotten up and gone to the register) he looked up and said along the lines of "Honey, their church is centered on families" almost as if there was a possibility to join. I am so excited for them! They have a family with three children (two sons and one daughter). We are excited to continue to keep contact and hopefully to help them come into the church as a family!

 

We also called and met with an investigator that we met on the street at the end fo October who decided that he wanted to start attending church again. He is amazing. We met with him three times before church (which he missed because of word of wisdom...) and he is so ready to join a church. As we teach him and help understand more of what he is really becoming a part of, he will find the strength to follow Christ and change to become who he really wants to be!

 

Jake is wonderful. We met him on Tuesday with a member and we again tried to help him realize the importance of the Book of Mormon and of prayer. I am so excited to help him understand the Plan of Salvation and how he can choose to return to his Heavenly Father if he chooses to. We are trying to meet him twice a week which has been difficult, but this week hopefully that hope will become a reality!

 

The intellectual investigator did not meet with us last week but will this week. We are excited to help him see the light of the Gospel and how he can apply it in his life.

 

Recently we have also met a lot of people for the first time and talked about what the Gospel can bring them. We received another member referral from one of the young men at church who brought his friend. The young mens leader told us that he seems to be really receptive to the truth. We are excited to meet with him and to teach him more. We also met with an older lady who is having a pretty rough life. She is pretty destitute as far as things of the world, but we will hopefully be able to show both her and her husband that there is something of far far greater value than any material thing that you can possess and help them to come unto Christ and enjoy the blessings of the Gospel! And then we had one more appointment with an investigator yesterday who is wonderful. He has attended lots of churches over the years and so he really just needs to realize that this is the one. He felt the spirit strongly as we met and left absolutely beaming at the end of the lesson. Yep, lots of wonderful potential to help the daughters and sons to come to Christ and receive the gospel and the blessings therein!

 

This week went very well! Korea is well our area is great, and time is not real. I can't believe that transfer calls are next week?! I feel like time has passed way too fast, but at the same time, I have not been happier!

I love you all so much!

 

This week's thought is about patience and persistence. One could really define persistence as the quality of our patience. At the base of our patience is the strength of our desires and our faith/hopes. The more desire and the more faith and hope we have, the greater capacity we have for patience and the greater capacity we have for patience the greater quality of patience we can exercise, or we can exercise greater persistence. I had a good recent experience with both. A few weeks ago, our investigators decided that they didn't want to meet with us. We had worked sooo hard and talked to everyone and tried to get appointments, but nothing was happening. It was a little frustrating at first, and then I remember distinctly praying not for success, but for patience, for assurance. Elder Bednar's recent talk came to mind that the blessings of the Lord are often subtle, but significant. Such is the gift of patience and persistence. I felt a definite difference after I prayed and relied on the Lord. I just kept the hope up that every time I talked to someone, that one person could be one that could return to Heavenly Father. Although I wasn't blessed with immediate results or miracles, I was blessed with the capacity to endure well until the results of our labor produced their fruits. Always remember Who is at the head of all things and His attributes and His power.

 

I love you all and am so thankful for the updates! You are so wonderful! I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Missionaries in Gwang Ju Fall 2013

Teaching Fall 2013

Hiking Near Gwang Ju Fall 2013

UPCOMING BAPTISM!

Hello Mother and family!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER! I am sooo sorry about last week. {Mom's note:  The week of November 17th, Elder Strahl attempted to send a bunch of pictures home from Korea and crashed his e-mail because he tried to send too many at once!  So there was no letter that week...} I didn't realize what would happen and then it did, and I didn't get a chance to wish you a happy birthday, I'm so sorry. It looks like you had a lot of fun at Famous Dave's. (I have to tell you something though. I like Korean food better than American food now. I guess it was inevitable. We went to this food court on the 9th floor of the building across from the church which was a world food court (so it had all the different types of food from all around the world) and...I ended up with Korean food.) I am so glad that you went out and had a wonderful time for your birthday. I hope that it was really good and that you enjoyed it a lot. I hope you have a wonderful year!

 

So first, I need to update on last week (again I am so sorry that I was unable to send an email). Last week went well. We continued to meet with Jake (the member referral) and I had tacos for the first time in 5 months (we ate with the family that grew up in America). We met with one new investigator who did not understand our purpose and is not an investigator any more and we worked with the restaurant owners to help prepare them for baptism. I hope there won't be any gaps, tell me if there is.

First, the less good news. Samuel has pretty much stopped his communication with us all together. We still try, but I think he is really busy. There is still hope though, that he will come back. He felt the spirit strong and so there will always be that tie back to the church. Also, this week our investigators decided that they were a little to busy to meet with us. So, we had few investigator appointments, but they were good.

Ok, on to the great news. The restaurant owners had their baptismal interview on Sunday and are planning to be baptized on Saturday!!! They are so wonderful. During our lesson my companion explained to him that he had to stop smoking and drinking for the week in order to be baptized. Then he looked at him directly and said "No, forever." Oh, I cannot tell you the joy in my heart at that moment and also at the beginning when we first followed up. He looked at us with a smile in his eyes and told us that he had thrown away all of his cigarettes. I am so excited for them! They are a wondeful couple and are going to be such wonderful members. I am excited to see them go to the temple, especially with their missionary daughter (who got permission to come back for their baptism!). I am so so so excited!!!

Also, we met with the intellectual investigator and found some of his deeper needs. We are excited to approach those needs in a way that will hopefully help him understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ more in conjunction with agency and accountability. We are excited to help him.

With Jake this week, he said that he was too busy to meet, however he playfully sent us a text one morning saying that he got up, couldn't come to the soccer activity, but that "he had better read the Book of Mormon". I love him. I can see him serving a mission. We hope he has more time to study with us this week so that we can get him on the path to baptism; on the path to peace in this life and eternal happiness in the next!

I had the opportunity last week of giving my very first Priesthood blessing (in English). One of the recently returned missionaries in our ward is really struggling. He had a mighty change of heart on his mission, but never developed patterns of righteous habits in a life setting, such as reading and praying, etc. He asked for a blessing, and I was privileged to give it. The only thing that I can say is that God knows us, personally, individually, and that He is anxious to help us if we will let Him. The blessing was a really cool experience as well because one of our investigators was there to see it. The Spirit was there and he felt it. A wonderful experience.

To answer your questions, yes a soft baptismal commitment is asking the investigator that when they know these things are true will they be baptized. It is soft because there is no date.

Well, things this week were really great. It is pretty cold here (not temperature wise but feeling wise). It isn't below 32 degrees, but it feels soooo cold (humidity?). Anyways, it's great!

I had one really cool experience that I want to share, specifically to you and the family. This Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference. Surprisingly the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 decided to do Stake Conference (Sunday session) for Korea. However, the wonderful experience happened on Saturday. The Stake Choir sat not in the front on the stand, but on benches that had been placed sideways in the chapel. The song right before Stake President spoke was I believe in Christ. It was absolutely amazing. Then, the Stake President got up and he expressed his impressions to share a scripture about Christ and then tied that into missionary work. When the meeting ended I stood up and looked around. In that room were all the members from all of Gwangju. There were over 40 missionaries in the room. I looked around and saw all of the members that I loved and all the missionaries that I have come to love and I felt as if I was in the Celestial Kingdom. I loved everyone there and the room was just radiating with the Spirit. I cannot explain the feelings that I received as I looked at all those people who I loved so much. When I reflected on this experience later that night, it hit me who was missing: The people that I am teaching, the people that I will teach. I realized that I am teaching to bring people there. They need to be there, and I realized how much more full my joy would be if they would come and be there as well. I think I understood a little bit more about the next life and what it will be like. Also, as I was reflecting on the deep feelings that I had, I realized that I had felt those feelings there in that situation, how much more would I feel those feelings with those who I loved most. That would be you and the family. I realize now to an even greater depth than ever before how much I truly love you. I want you all to be there, every single one of you. I want you to be as happy and happier than we all were then. I want us to be together, forever and ever. I love you so much. I have the privilege of helping other families come to realize this same happiness and these blessings.

I hope that you have a wonderful week! I love you all so much.

DISTRICT PICTURE AT MTC CLASSROOM

PICTURE AT PROVO TEMPLE

PICTURES FROM MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER!!!

KOREAN PRIMAY PROGRAM AND BAPTISM

Hello Mother and family,

 

Sounds like things are going very well in MN. Reid is great! I love that idea of missionary week for the youth. That takes a lot of faith--it's cool that they went to all that effort to promote the church at school. I am so glad that he was able to participate in such an experience. 

 

This past week went by very quickly, but very well. The last few days with my trainer were very good. We said goodbye to the restaurant owners and to the area where my companion had diligently served. He was truly a great trainer. My new companion arrived...his name is Elder Tolman and the rumors that he is a Christlike missionary were true! He is great and very solid. I am so excited to be serving with him and to work with the people in our area! It will be a great transfer!

 

There are now 8 missionaries serving in our ward (4 sisters, 4 elders) and Sister Naatjes was one of them assigned to our ward. She is basically in my position 3 months ago--what a great are to be a new missionary in! I don't really want to leave....

 

Our investigators are doing well and some have been dropped.

 

We had an intense lesson with Kong this past week that ended in him blankly telling to our faces that he would not read the Book of Mormon or pray, so we told him that we could not meat with him until he was willing to read the Book of Mormon and to pray. He was sad about not meeting anymore, but it's what had to be done. We had the member that was just baptized come into the lesson and bear his testimony, I bore him as straightforward and heartfelt a testimony that I could and so did Elder Evans. And still, even though he has told us at least 3 times that he has felt the spirit, he would not read or pray. So there ends that road until later. Luckily our Ward Mission leader was there afterward for comfort. He told us that he took 7 years of meeting with the missinaries before he became a member. So, hopefully down the road he will meet the missionaries again and this time be prepared to receive the Gospel.

 

We didn't meet with the intellectual investigatr. but this week we will and hopefully we will be able to talk to him in a way that will help him see that making a promise with Heavenly Father is really what he needs to do, not learn all of the details about the Priesthood line through the Catholic and other churches. We will meet and see if we can help him progress.

 

The restaurant owners are doing sooo well. Oh my goodness! This week they showed up 15 minutes early to church in Sunday clothes, absolutely all smiles because of the surprise that they new that they would give. We taught them a lesson in their restaurant for the first time in history! Oh I am so excited for them! The first week that I was here we shared the first spiritual message, and now they are preparing for baptism on November 23rd! They are so wonderful!!! We have a meeting with President this week with them, which will be absolutely wonderful! I am so excited for our President to meet such wonderful people!

 

Another miracle happened on Sunday. This week was the Primary Program (and if you think that American children are cute, well then you haven't met a baby Korean yet)! The program was so wonderful as I heard all of the little angels singing familiar primary songs in Korean. So amazing. And then I looked back at one part and Samuel was there in the back! I felt like I was in heaven. The restaurant owners were sitting at my right, we were watching the primary program, and Samuel, who I love so much came to church after 4 weeks of not coming to church and almost 2 months of not taking lessons. Afterwards he seemed to show some further interest in the church. I am so glad that he felt the Holy Ghost in our first lesson--I know that is what brought him back to church even after being so remote for so long. I cannot wait (that is an enormous understatement) to meet with him and to teach him more. He is amazing and will be a very strong member in the church, So excited.

 

We also had a call today from a member that we will have a meeting with a referral with the member tomorrow at 1:00pm. We hear that he has really great potential and are very excited to be able to meet with him and to also teach him. Although we don't have a lot of investigators right now, the investigators that we have are wonderful!!!

 

Yesterday we had a baptism! The person who is baptized is a friend and a wonderful person (he came into our lesson with Kong and bore his testimony). What I didn't tell you about that testimony is that while he was giving it (this is 마준오 mah-june-oh) Elder Paskett (the missionary who taught him) and I could not stop smiling because he basically acted as if he was a 10 year old member. The baptism was wonderful and I am so impressed at the faith of this new investigator. He has already referred 5 people to the missionaries and is going to refer his aunt who lives where Elder Evans went. He is 33 and looks like he's 20. He has a light in his eyes that is undeniable to anyone who sees it.

 

And next week...the sisters have a baptism! So things are getting going in the area and we are super excited for the upcoming transfer for all of the investigators that the Lord has in mind for the area of 충장 (btw, if I don't add a pronounciation key just make something up and go with it!!!)

 

This week I have been studying the Sermon on the Mount quite a lot. I love it! To me, it seems as if it sums up all of this life in one interconnected relationship between us and God, and how our interaction with others in this life affects the relationship that we have with God and vice versa. Ultimately, however, it really boils down to two people: the natural man and the Lord. No man can serve two masters, so we must choose, everyday, every moment, every hour, whether we want to wear the mast of the carnal man inside of us or the mask of the saint. Remember that throughout this life...eventually the mask that you wear most will becme your true face. Remember this!

I love you.

2nd Transfer

Hello Mother and family!!!

First...transfer information. So, we just received (literally) our transfer information. My companion is transferring south and becoming District Leader, and I am getting a new companion that is the same "age" in the mission as my companion. My new companion trained a Korean last transfers so he will be very good at Korean and will be able to teach me a lot about missionary work and about Korean! I am super excited, but at the same time super sad about getting a new companion. Elder Evans taught me so much and helped me in so many ways. The rest of the people in our house are staying the same. My new companion's name is Elder Tolman.

 The baptismal comments you shared with me are true and resemble a discussion we had with one of our investigators this week. This week we had a beautifully spiritual lesson with Kong. He has studied the Bible so much that although he has a completely mixed up perception of a lot of things, he "gets it". He understands the eternal perspective. So, we sat down with him and told him: look, this is salvation. This is what you have to do to qualify for salvation, and then taught him the principles of the Gospel. He was really intimidated at the idea of a covenant, because he was afraid that he would break it and then be at a loss. Then, we explained to him the sacrament. The two key verses for that lesson were 2 Nephi 2:24 and verse 27. Basically all things have been done through the wisdom of God-this is how you do it. And...it's time to make the choice. What are you willing to do for salvation? I loved that lesson because Elder Evans and I literally told him, "we are representatives of Jesus Christ that help people to make promises with Him". It felt good to just be so blank with someone who understood and actually cared about his relationship with God and his salvation. We went hiking with him the next day and he was great. He asked us after the hike if we could study with him, and we unfortunately couldn't because of other things we had to attend to, but overall he is doing well!

On a completely opposite note, a tragic accident happened and one of the other Elders' investigators passed away in a car accident. It was all of the sudden. We got a call in the morning, they rushed off to the hospital and he passed away. That brought everything down to earth Later, because of another complicated situation, I ended up going on splits with the other Elder to visit the casket and offer condolances. Well, that was an interesting experience. I had only seen him once, and as soon as we got there, they took us to his casket and told us to pray. So we did. I realized very acutely the reason why I am doing what I am doing. He went on from this life and into the next. As I prayed, I knew that he was being taken care of in the next life. He had received some of the lessons, so I am sure that he will receive the Gospel in the spirit world. That was a crazy happening that really impressed on me the reality of everything that I am doing and the importance of it above anything else, which can pass away with you...

On a brighter note, we started the formal lessons with our investigators! They met with us at the church and we went through the first lesson twice (because the wife could not come during the week--then we taught them both on Sunday) They are doing so well. I don't know what will happen because Elder Evans is transferring and they were not very happy about that possibility. So...I am praying that they will still completely accept everything and be baptized on the date planned. They will, I know they will in my heart. Also, they got permission to have their daughter who is on a mission in Seoul-South to come for their baptism. I am so excited for this wonderful event! Oh, it is going to be so wonderful...!!!

Our intellectual investigator is missing the boat...again. We taught about baptism and he got caught up on the Priesthood. He wanted to know the exact history and everything for all the different churches...all about the bare facts, etc. He's a little hard hearted, my new companion and I will work on that.

Our studying investigator is still studying, but supposedly this is the week that he will be able to meet with us!

On a great note, we met a wonderful person yesterday. His name is 김태원 (Kim-Tay-Won) and he came up to us and asked us what we were doing. Well, that was music to our ears. We talked to him and bore our testimonies of the peace and happiness that we received, and then he asked "well what peace and what happiness?". In my mind, I basically had a "well I thought you'd never ask" moment. It was great. I opened the Book of Mormon and asked him to read 2 Nephi 26:24, one of my favorite verses. It says: 24 He doeth not ^aanything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he ^bloveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw ^call men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation."   I then told him that I could feel the love and help of Jesus Christ every moment as I shared the Gospel with people and that was why I was in Korea--to share with everyone the wonderful feelings that I have received through Jesus Christ. I could tell that he felt something. He agreed to meet with us later and I am excited to see his progress in the Gospel. 

That is the thought for this week. Bear testimony! It is what you have that no one else has--it brings the spirit fastest, both to you and to whoever is receiving it. 

I love you all! I sent some pictures, I think they are MTC only, because I can't see the pictures. 

A WONDERFUL WEEK!

Hello Mother and Family!

My week was so wonderful. We had a great time with all of our investigators and we received some good potential investigators as well

First, the big miracle. This week was the week to set the baptismal date with the restaurant owners. We went in to the meeting knowing that they were really prepared and could be baptized in two or three weeks. He was so awesome. We went in, he took his calendar book, plopped it down on the table and then we talked about when he thought he would be ready. He responded with November 23, 2013. I can't tell you my excitement for him and for his wife. They have changed so  much in the past few weeks and the visible light that has entered into their life iis always inspiring. The next words out of his mouth inspired and surprised my companion and I. He said, My birthday is on the 25th of November. I want my baptism to be close to that day because it is a spiritual rebirth!" I can't tell you how big I smiled inside. He gets it. Also,, ,we were talking to him after the date was set and he started to show us the correspondence between Hanja (Chinese characters) and Hangul (Korean alphabet). He decided that he would find out what the meaning of our names was, and then make us new names that reflected those meanings. I am so excited. What does this have to do with a miracle? Well, how he learned the Hanja is the miracle. He mentioned that he was able to learn all of the Hanja through his job before the restaurant. It just so happens that this was genealogy! He knows all the Hanja for every name pretty much possible! We mentioned to Bishop a couple months ago that he could call a Family history history specialist and he didn't...and now we know why! There is so much that he can do for the church and his talents will come in very handily in his "new life". We are so excited for him, and a little bit wary of transfers which will happen in a few weeks with the prospect of being transferred out of the area, but we both realize that the Lord will send us where is absolutely best for both us and for our investigators. Great experience. Oh, if I could describe the difference in their lives in the past few weeks I would, but it is one of those things that you have to experience.

Kong is still unique. Apparently he received a calling through the Holy Ghost while he was studying the Bible to go to India and to set up a peace movement there. And, on top of that he says that he can't pray until he does. Holy Cow we wrestled with this until finally he told us that after he studied the Bible for a really long time he found a secret about prayer that if we study long enough we can find too. From his beliefs about man and our relationship to God, we have an idea what the secret is, but it is still such a strange situation. We are working with him to get him to pray which is absolutely vital for any further success. He is great though and always provides us some entertainment. He showed up for a little bit of General Conference which was great!

The intellectual investigator we finally helped draw the connection that knowledge is only good as it gets us closer to God and that the only way that we can really get closer to God is through making covenants (i.e. the Baptismal covenant) and so now we will try to start preparing him for such. We are excited to meet with him and talk very directly and boldly with him about what he needs to do to prepare for baptism.

11!!!

THis past week has been really great and full of surprises and miracles. I loved General conference (SOOOO GOOOD!!!) And I will tell you from my inspiration from General conference that your thought about covenants was spot on and helped me to realize a little bit better how my inspiration will directly affect my missionary work. Well the work goes forward!

I don't have much time to email (you all individually emailed at the same time (which was great!!!)) but here is the simple message in my mind. Covenants allow us to return to Heavenly Father. Make them. Keep them. And you will be ok.. I promise.

Have a great week! I love you all soo much!!